juvenile hormone

American

noun

Biochemistry.

any of a class of insect and plant hormones acting to inhibit the molting of a juvenile insect into its adult form.

juvenile hormone British

noun

a hormone, secreted by insects from a pair of glands behind the brain, that promotes the growth of larval characteristics and inhibits metamorphosis

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of juvenile hormone

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

juvenile hormone

One previous study in bees showed that juvenile hormone could bypass the insects’ blood-brain barrier and act on the brain.

From Science Magazine ● Sep. 14, 2023

Around the time the worm’s larva began its transformation, many cells started to produce an enzyme that, in insects, helps activate a molecule called juvenile hormone.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 16, 2023

The discovery of the juvenile hormone was particularly unexpected.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 29, 2016

California's Georghiou has found, in laboratory tests, that after 15 generations both houseflies and mosquitoes develop resistance to juvenile hormone insecticides.

From Time Magazine Archive

Scientists anxious to find a safe but powerful pesticide have long been fascinated by the juvenile hormone that is secreted by insects.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023